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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR
the majority of the inferior brethren at Pāțaliputra began the Mahāsanghika School. The Mahāsanghikas, as we know, lived originally at Vesali and later on passed on to the south, making their principal centre in the Andhra country at Dhanakataka (present Guntur District).
The statement that Asoka became later on repentant and wanted the monks who fled to Kashmir to return to Magadha may be an indirect reference to the fact recorded in the Divyāvadānao and Asokāvadāna" that Asoka made an attempt towards the end of his life to reconcile the monks of the different schools of Buddhist thought by convening a council to which he particularly invited the monks living at Tamasāvana in Kashmir. The Ceylonese chronicles maintain a discreet silence over this incident, and this is not unusual in view of the sectarian spirit permeating the chronicles.
The Sarvāstivādins also claim Aśoka as their patron. They ignore the name of Moggaliputta Tissa and put in its stead the name of Upagupta. Their Avadāna literature is full of episodes dealing with the life and munificence of Asoka. Tāranātha also speaks of his lavish gifts to the Sarvāstivāda monks of Aparantaka, Kashmir and Tukhāra. Kalhana writes that Asoka not only built Śrīnagari but also covered Suskaletra and Vitastrā with numerous stūpas, one of which was so high that its pinnacle could not be seen. Yuan Chwang noticed four Asokan topes, each of which contained relics of Buddha's body. The Avadānas record that Aśoka's
1 Watters, I, p. 269.
2 lbid. 3 Divyā., p. 399 ani Fipantayt gare e alfa Eritreah ATA Sfet; 1A., 1895, pp. 241 ff.
4 Prof. Przyluski writes in his Légende de l'Empereur Asoka, pp. 101, 17 that a council of 30,000 monks was held by Asoka, his sources of information being the Asokāvadāna and Tăranātha (Schiefner, p. 38) but we do not find any such reference in Taranātha. 5 Schicfner, p. 38.
6 Stein, I, p. 19.
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